Actions Speak Louder than Words

As the saying goes actions speak louder than words, therefore my conclusion the way the SNP are using Holyrood they must be whisper. Of course with all the bravado and rhetoric that exudes from Alex Salmond's mouth you may be led to believe otherwise.

However, using a devolved Parliament as nothing more than a talking shop to knock down your main opposition's governance in the Parliament that devolved that power is a waste of resources. What is more that when the Scottish Parliament does have a vote over something it does have the power if that doesn't go the way of the largest party they then find some way or at least attempt to circumvent democracy.

So why did the people of Scotland bother to elect 129 MSPs?

Surely they didn't expect to sit some weeks and discuss nothing but what was going on at Westminster. Surely they elected them to make the decisions that they had been given control over, to make things better and different in Scotland under their devolved powers.

Maybe Johann Lamont, Labour's deputy leader in Hoylrood does have a point when he says:

"This is a deliberate strategy from the SNP. They are happy to use the
Parliament as a platform for attacking what Labour is doing at Westminster, but
they are not prepared to be held to account for their own decisions."

After 18 months in control it is starting to become clear that the Nats are still thinking like an opposition not a government. The way Alex Salmond behaved during the Glenrothes by Election was a case in point. His dozen visits to the seat why there were things that a leader of a country should have been diverting his attention to but were being neglected. Is Alex like that long surviving journeyman fighter, rolling away from the punches, dancing away from his opponents hoping that nothing lands on his chin? Does he have a glass chin, one that is just waiting to be landed with the killer blow? Is he trying to avoid doing anything that means that blow could spoil his aim?

Nicola Sturgeon said on Question Time on Thursday in relation to Strictly Come Dancing and John Sergeant that inviting the public to be involved in the decision and then not being happy with their response was like holding an election but only allowing it to be on certain criteria. What would she say of having run that election, not carrying out the duties invested in you or the others that had also won?